Political science scholars discussed strengthening pro-democracy coalitions in a Wednesday event marking the launch of CDDRL’s new Democracy Action Lab.
In an Israel Insights webinar, Professor Azar Gat examined how unresolved questions of historical legitimacy have shaped decades of failed negotiations.
By combining rigorous research with practitioner collaborations, the Democracy Action Lab at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law turns ideas into action.
UC Davis Political Scientist Lauren Young examines why authoritarian incumbents use electoral repression selectively, why they often outsource it, and how elite cohesion shapes its organization, targeting, and effectiveness.
Exploring great power competition, Cold War lessons, and the future of U.S. foreign policy with FSI Director and former U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul.
In the second annual “Reimagining Democracy” webinar series, professor Francis Fukuyama dove into the root causes of democracy’s current crisis. He discussed how declining trust, civic disengagement among youth, and other societal challenges have weakened democratic systems and what actions are needed to revive them.
Professor Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, shares insights from his new book on Cold War lessons and the autocracy-democracy struggle.
CDDRL postdoctoral scholar Maria Nagawa examines how foreign aid projects influence bureaucrats’ incentives, effort, and the capacity of bureaucratic institutions.
The award recognizes their book, “Propaganda in Autocracies” (Cambridge University Press, 2023), as the best book in political economy published in the past three years.
In Nigeria, women are far less likely than men to attend meetings or contact leaders. Claire Adida’s research reveals interventions that make a difference.
Golden received the 2025 Lijphart/Przeworski/Verba Best Dataset Award for her “Global Legislator Database,” a cross-national dataset on the characteristics of 19,704 national parliamentarians in 97 of the world's 103 electoral democracies.
The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law welcomes applications from pre-doctoral students at the write-up stage and from post-doctoral scholars working in any of the four program areas of democracy, development, evaluating the efficacy of democracy promotion, and rule of law.
A new journal explores the legal landscape of outer space. “On the West Coast, and especially in Silicon Valley, space is happening all around us … Stanford is uniquely positioned to bring law into that conversation.” Stanford Law School lecturer Erik Jensen and Dinsha Mistree, an affiliate of the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, are serving as advisors to the Stanford Space Law Society.
The Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) is pleased to welcome five pre- and postdoctoral fellows who will join us for the 2025-26 academic year. These scholars will spend the academic year focusing on the Center's four program areas of democracy, development, evaluating the efficacy of democracy promotion, and rule of law.
